“Margaret Juntwait, the former WNYC Radio announcer who became the first woman to host the Metropolitan Opera’s Saturday Afternoon Radio Broadcasts, died on Wednesday of complications from ovarian cancer,” writes Brian Wise on Wednesday (6/3) at New York classical radio station WQXR. “Her last broadcast was on December 31, after which her health had begun to decline. Juntwait came to WNYC in 1991 to work as an assistant on New Sounds, hosted by John Schaefer…. Over the following decade Juntwait gradually moved to on-air roles, becoming host of Midday Music, and later, Evening Music. In December 2004, she was hired away by the Metropolitan Opera. That same year she was diagnosed with cancer but it had been under control for the better part of the past decade. Juntwait grew up as one of four children in suburban New Jersey. A former lyric soprano and an aspiring actress, she received a bachelor’s degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music in 1980…. She described her role as presenting classical music in a way that is ‘friendly, engaging and decidedly unstuffy.’ … Juntwait is survived by her husband, Jamie Katz, three sons from a previous marriage—Gregory, Bart and Steven Andreatchi—and a stepdaughter, Joanna Katz. Funeral plans are still being finalized.”
Posted June 4, 2015
